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Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Sorry, this movie sucks

The acting in this movie is really good.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

When I saw this I tried to sit and comprehend why anyone thinks this music from this guy is good. The only thing I could come up with is they feel sorry for him.You know how someone shows you a drawing one of the family members did? Sitting on a fridge? Most say how nice it is and wow that's good but deep down you know it's terrible but you be nice and keep a positive vibe towards them to keep them happy. Being honest is not easy to some people. If someone would have been honest to Daniel Johnston a long time ago, he wouldn't be doing this stuff and passing it off as great music and great art.How this guy got on MTV and passed himself off as a great musician is a mystery. Maybe his oddness or tenacity did it but any A&R guy could hear this stuff he puts out and say..."uh...yeah...we pass". Case and Point? He got signed by a major label and sold only a little over 5,000 copies. Why? The music stinks...period.He has another fascinating hobby in that he fancies himself an artist. From what I see in this film a little over 80 to 90 percent of what he does is just copy Captain America Type cartoons and adds odd sayings to the paper. He does have a few pretty interesting self drawn things but not enough IMO to make him even be close to an artist. Again, I think people just placate him to make him happy and such. The crazy guy is a musician and artist. No he's not.The area of this film that really works and works big time is the depiction of a serious paranoid delusional character. Daniel Johnston should be in a textbook under that title. He should be the example...and this film shows you why. This is one guy who's parents should have seen a long time before that he wasn't carrying a full load. Of course the main problems start when, you might guess, he takes a bad trip on LSD and doesn't stop. This probably was the catalyst to do him in completely but you'll see he was a tad off before his fame started.I always believe in telling things like they are. In this film you'll see a lot of rambling lyrics that make no sense and chord changes that don't work and everyone around him saying..."this is great music". Problem is folks...it ain't. His art is marginal at best and again..."this stuff is great". The film hinges on his mental issues. Watch it for that and be aware of what true mental issues are. You'll then know what to look for in the people around you. This is a very cautionary tale.

This, the story of the very living and breathing Daniel Johnston, is a well-made shot at capturing the spirit of his work until 2005, when the documentary was made.Even if you haven't heard his music, or even if you don't like it, this is a remarkable person and makes for a bigger film than most sci-fi can lay claim to.Johnston started making music while living in his parents' basement. His mother berated him with not being a good Christian while he drew, painted and filmed with unrestrained zeal, and suddenly he started playing the piano and writing lyrics. He released his own music on cassette and started getting known.At the same time, his mental problems started surfacing; he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and has gone through major periods of manic behaviour, often connected to visions of The Devil.His songwriting is monumental, and this documentary follows him well through bouts of creativity, friendship, his One Love, his relationship with his mother, working with other musicians, his long-standing job at McDonalds and his incarceration with mental institutions.This documentary provided me with a peep-hole into everybody's soul, not just Johnston's. He's a lovable guy

The Devil and Daniel Johnston -ok I have seen this movie before(Jandek/Wesley Willis promo reel/Rodney on the Roq)- but this movie about the creative outsider artist Daniel Johnston was well done and kept my interest the whole time.Mixing his drawings,home movies and cassette recordings with recollections by his friends and family.A lifelong Beatles fan -he started by writing songs and playing them on his piano- then he moved to Austin and switched to guitar- his approach to music is very stripped down- and not an easy listen at first- but when he is in the zone- there is a simple beauty to his pain-his voice while not conventionaly pretty or always pitch-perfect is so honest and bracing that it reeled me right in.The movie captured his brief glimpses into fame( hijacking a MTV BBQ and getting his name out) to his struggles with his manic depression - including a harrowing plane ride with his father.The DVD has some great extras also- including 3 of Daniel's early short films,his first meeting with his college muse in a decade and an broadcast on WFMU.A good documentary with tons of extras. B+

This film is a documentary biopic of struggling creative genius. Told from the perspective of his friends, family and the artwork of Daniel Johnston. More than 80% of the film must be video, audio, art and music from the artist. None of it is told from his 1st person present day perspective. This gives me the tragic feeling that he only exists in the shell of what he used to be before... Well you'll just have to see the film. I knew nothing of Daniel Johnston, before I saw the film, which does an amazing job of covering every significant moment in his life up to a few years ago. If you have ever wondered what would happen if a creative genius was born in middle America then this is it and it's beautifully documented.